Chapter 1

Strange Occurrences at Miss Pratt's Book Emporium

A single ray of sunlight penetrated the gloom circling through the alley. I glanced around as I tried to find the familiar bookworm sign that welcomed people to Miss Pratt's Book Emporium. Without looking, I already knew nobody else was here. Few ventured into this part of town, although my favorite place in the world was here.

Suddenly, I found it. A tall brick building with a huge bookworm sign loomed above me. Signs advertising various deals hung nearby. Miss Pratt rarely had any customers. If it wasn't for me, this place would have gone out of business years ago. I pulled out a crinkled five dollar bill. It was surprising how much that could buy here.

"Ah, Miss Avery Richards!" Miss Pratt exclaimed as I walked in.

I glanced at the old woman who was stacking books in the back of the store. "Hi Miss Pratt," I said.

"Thank goodness you're here!" Miss Pratt said. "I haven't had a customer in weeks. Stay as long as you'd like!"

I wandered towards the Teen Fiction section. I traced my fingers along the spines of each and every book on the shelf. I took one off the shelf. It was a small blue book titled "The Sapphire Vortex."

I opened the book and breathed in that beautiful new book smell. Then, I took my iPod and earbuds out of my bag and turned on the Reading Playlist. "Atlas" by Coldplay came on. I let the amazing Coldplay melodies sink in as I became lost in the book.

Suddenly, my fantasies were interrupted by a bell. That could only mean one thing. A customer was here. My eyes darted to the door.

Raven DelMarzo was standing in the doorway. She was the sort of person you would never expect to see at a barely-in-business bookstore. Raven was wearing black sweats and black makeup. Her messy hair was also jet black. Large, clunky headphones hung around her neck, and I could hear the noise coming from them from across the bookstore. I also noticed Raven was carrying a black notebook with red tinges. Nobody ever came to Miss Pratt's Book Emporium, and Raven was the last person I expected to show up.

"Oh, a customer!" Miss Pratt exclaimed as she saw Raven. "Feel free to stay as long as you'd like!"

"Nah, I'm just stopping by," Raven said. "Do you know where Avery Richards might be?"

I hid my face in the book, hoping Raven wouldn't see me. I hated people interrupting my reading sessions. There was a reason I came to Miss Pratt's, and that was to find some peace.

"Avery's back there," Miss Pratt said, pointing towards the Teen Fiction section.

"Thank you," Raven said to Miss Pratt as she walked towards me. She took a book off the shelf. I noticed it was titled "The Vampire's Shadow" and had a picture of a vampire as I would imagine one on the cover.

Raven opened the cover and smiled, revealing a few of her missing teeth. She laughed. "Aren't these things silly, Avery?" she asked me as she cast away the book.

"Don't drop that!" I shouted. "Miss Pratt will kill us if one of these books get ruined."

"You know she'll never sell this. Anyways, they claim this to be an adventure. Death is the only true adventure."

"Where do you get your crazy ideas?" I asked.

"Where do you get yours? Speaking of which, I know your secret," Raven hissed.

I ran through my memory, but still didn't know what she was talking about. What secrets did I have? "Secrets" by OneRepublic came on and I laughed.

"What secret?" I asked, still laughing.

"You know," Raven said, looking at me with her piercing gaze. "Why are you laughing? I don't see anything funny about this."

"The song that's on totally describes the situation," I said simply.

"Unless it's Black Veil Brides or something, then I really don't care. And if you really don't know what I'm talking about, I'll have Spindler explain."

Spindler? I asked myself. Who names their kids Spindler? This situation was getting weirder by the second, and I wasn't sure I liked it.